There's something to be said for musical restlessness, for the hunger and curiosity and joy that comes from treating genres as "suggestions" and smashing through all of the polite barriers between them.

All of which is to say that even if you closed your eyes and just listened, Friday night's (October 20) collaboration between Halifax MC Lance Sampson — better known as Aquakulture — and the Big Budi Band would have sounded like a wonderfully restless smorgasbord of sound, bounding with abandon between musical patterns that echoed jazz, soul, rock, funk and hip-hop. Credit the Big Budi Band, an all-star lineup of familiar Halifax faces led by Nick Dourado (Special Costello, Century Egg, Eddy, a plethora of other projects) that plays like there's no note outside of their reach.

"If it weren't for these motherfuckers, this shit wouldn't happen," said Sampson, thanking his band at night's end. "They work too motherfucking hard to be slept on."

Sampson worked hard, too. With boundless enthusiasm, and a vocal dexterity that allowed him to carve out space for his rhymes amidst the sound, he attacked tracks like "Uniform Fit" with physical force. His bandmates responded in kind, playing with an infectious physicality. It was a supremely confident set, yet one that felt like there's still room for the collaboration to grow, to find new inspiration — an exciting prospect.